While many vehicles are now equipped with Automatic Crash Notification (ACN) systems, first responders currently have no way to access vehicle-specific or accident-specific information before or even upon arriving at the accident location. Currently, upon arriving at an accident scene, first responders must first assess the severity of the accident, as well as the number of occupants and extent of injury to those occupants. This delay impedes the first responders from being able to provide immediate assistance, which may have life threatening consequences. Moreover, depending on the severity of the accident, first responders must further consider the type of vehicle(s) involved in the accident since different vehicles tend to have different properties that can affect how the first responders should provide rescue help, such as the optimum location to cut a vehicle in order to quickly and safely extract the vehicles' occupants, for example. Such vehicle-specific information may also improve the safety of the first responders themselves in allowing them to specifically prepare for the risks associated with a particular vehicle type, e.g., potential high voltage danger associated with electric vehicles.
While there have been some efforts to extend the functionality of ACN systems to include the transmission of information to the appropriate public service answering point, for example, there remains a need for providing first responders with vehicle- and/or accident-specific information before or upon arriving at an accident's location in order to enable the first responders to more quickly and effectively provide rescue assistance.